Article

Football Brings its "D" to D-Days

MSU falls to USB despite holding the Coyotes' potent offense to season lows in scoring and yardage.

by Dan Myers
October 11, 2005

The University of South Dakota's homecoming celebration, known by locals as "D-Days," is a celebration worthy of fireworks. Renowned as one of the best celebrations around, the USD offense was primed to display some fireworks of their own. But it was the Mavericks (1-6 overall, 0-3 NCC) with a "D-Day" of their own that nearly caused an upset victory over the No. 5 ranked Coyotes (7-0 overall, 3-0 NCC) at the Dakota Dome Saturday.

The Maverick defense bent through the first three quarters before finally breaking in the final frame in a 35-14 loss where numbers didn't tell the whole story.

Heading to the fourth quarter down 14-7 was a coup for Minnesota State. USD hadn't scored less than 28 points in the first half all season. But the Coyotes explosive offense finally wore out the Mavericks in the fourth quarter. USD running back Travis Mlady, the NCC's Co-Offensive Player of the Week last week, didn't touch the ball until the 12:05 mark of the final frame. But Mlady made his first carry of the afternoon a good one, breaking through a pile at the line of scrimmage and racing 44 yards for the touchdown, giving USD a 21-7 advantage and all the points the Coyotes would need.

But USD, which averaged nearly 58 points per contest entering the game, was not finished.

A MSU fumble less than a minute later set up the Coyotes deep inside Maverick territory. USD quarterback Wes Beschorner converted the mistake into six more points for South Dakota, capping a short three-play drive with a six-yard touchdown run at 11:06.

MSU answered just over two minutes later when Tyrell Smith hauled in a 27-yard strike from quarterback Joshua Bryant. Smith, the Mavericks' most consistent performer on offense all season, caught a career-high nine passes for 81 yards and a pair of scores.

"Tyrell did a hell of a job getting open," Bryant said. "He made a great catch on both ends (touchdown receptions).

The Coyotes stifled any hopes of a Maverick comeback, however, by digging deep into their playbook. A reverse flea-flicker moved USD from deep in their own territory to midfield. An option end-around put the Coyotes on the doorstep before Mlady added another touchdown run from five yards out. The drive moved 77 yards in just four plays and only took 1:50 off the clock, but the big plays tired and already exhausted defense.

"In the end, our defense wore down," Jamrog said. "They made some big plays and we couldn't stop them."

The Mavericks won the time of possession battle and forced five Coyote turnovers, but could muster only 14 points. Coming into the game, USD had turned the ball over only three times all season.

"It's frustrating. We had our chances," Jamrog said. "When you get five turnovers, you need to score more than 14 points."

MSU will stay on the road this week and conclude their non-conference schedule with a tilt against Upper Iowa, a team MSU handled 38-0 last season at Blakeslee Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Eischeid Stadium in Lafayette, Iowa.

 

Pat Christman

Northwest Missouri State linebacker Ben Harness (white jersey) tries to bring down Minnesota State running back Sean Treasure during the first quarter of Thursday's season-opening football game at Blakeslee Stadium. Treasure ran for 75 yards and caught four passes for 27 more.